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Hello Forumites! However well-intentioned, for the safety of other users we ask that you refrain from seeking or offering medical advice. This includes recommendations for medicines, procedures or over-the-counter remedies. Posts or threads found to be in breach of this rule will be removed.Weekly Flylady Thread 2nd October 2023



What is FLYLADY? Well, it's our version of the US flylady
idea - but we work on the principle that housework is not fun, it's boring, can
be time-consuming, is often thankless but, unfortunately, necessary. It's here
on Old Style to provide the support we all need and to make the whole task
easier and quicker. We also accept that, sometimes, life just gets on top of us
and we can't keep up, maybe because we're time-poor, not in the best of health
and/or we have littlies who need us. We are definitely NOT control freaks
aiming for perfection and utterly spotless show-homes.
Welcome to the weekly Flylady Thread. You're
more than welcome to join us in the everlasting battle against dust, grime and
gibble. The aim of our thread is to make those onerous tasks less daunting, and
to support each other - and to make time for the finer things in life!
Please do remember we have to abide by MSE
rules; each post should, ideally, include some mention of flying.
Thanks to Valli for last week’s thread.
Every room comes back around next week so
please don’t stress about catching up
Please follow the forum rules on this thread
as Flylady has been here a LONG time and is a fabulous support and resource for
lots of us. All posts should have some Flylady-related (ooh a compound
adjective) content!
The idea is that even if you are really busy
you don't need to fall off the wagon!
Every room comes back around next week so
please don't stress about catching up
These lists are only suggestions and not a
must do list; you are more than welcome to post and follow your own lists.
Also adding a declutter mission each day will
help to gradually clear the clutter and make flying easier.
A few of the basics before we start the week
Hotspots are areas where if one thing gets put there, loads
of other things follow!
Daily routines are anything you need to do on a daily basis
like washing, swish and swipe kitchen and bathroom, ironing, making beds,
vacuuming high traffic areas, making meals etc.
Night-time routines are all things which make getting ready in the
morning easier, preparing clothes for the next day, making lunches, swish &
swipes of the kitchen and tidying the living room before you go to bed plus
personals like shower/brush teeth etc.
Fling Boogie - stick on some loud music, grab a bin bag and whiz
around the house finding items that can go out with the rubbish, recycling, for
charity shop, basically anything that will stop it cluttering your home.
Swish and swipe/S&S means have a quick wipe over an area such as a
sink or toilet to prevent the build up of dirt. This is usually done on a daily
basis
HHE/HHC/HHI Half Hour exercise/challenge/ironing ... run
around for 30 minutes to the Benny Hill music frantically cleaning exercising
or ironing.. other music may be used if you prefer!
WM ~
Washing machine
TD ~
Tumble dryer
SC ~
Slowcooker
BM ~
Breadmaker
DW ~
Dishwasher
SOAADFA ~ Sit on 'bottom' and do 'nothing'
KH/XH/FW ~ Ex-husband and other not so polite versions
DH/DD/DS/DW/DP ~ Dear
husband/daughter/son/wife/partner/whatever
OH/SO ~ Other half/significant other
NN ~
nice neighbour
Toxic (friend/mother/sister/whoever) ~ person in your life that seems
to exist to make your life miserable
AF ~
Aunt Flo 'time of the month'.. nothing to do with flying but it comes up often.
ETA ~
Edited to add
Gibble ~ miscellaneous crap that appears forever homeless
Dot-to-dot ~ pick a small area (not a whole room) like a
chair/coffee/table/shelf/worktop or wherever- thats your first 'dot' - totally
clear it - clean it - and only put back what should be there - deal with what
you have removed (not just move it somewhere else) then if you have time move
on and do the same to another 'dot' -the idea is just like a dot to dot puzzle,
you aim to join up all the dots and have a tidy room. The trick is to keep each
dot tidy until you get them all joined up! All credit to AnW's Mum for this one
RoD ~
Room of Doom, the one room that feels like it is a permanent pit and cannot be
used to its potential!
MAD half hour- Mad is the abbreviation for
Make A Difference.
The idea is that you have a Forth bridge (ie
never-ending - or just huge) task but that you work on it in half-hour bursts.
This way you know you ARE stooping, and that you won't get it finished but you
will make a difference - so it might be clearing out - the garage or shed, or
clothes sorting, or weeding - you get the picture - but rather than keep going
until you've lost the will to live you do half an hour...but, eventually those
half hours will get the job done!
Mr S/A/T/M/L/Al - supermarkets Sainsburys, Asda, Tesco,
Morrisons, Lidl, Aldi. You get the picture!!
Click here to
read Toots wonderful welcome guide
Ok here goes this week
Monday ~ Living room, Hall
and Stairs
Level One
Declutter the floors
Vacuum decluttered floors!
Tidy coats and shoes, put
summer ones away for next summer or in the bin or charity shop bag as required!
Level Two
declutter and dust the tops
of any units and dust ornaments
Wipe the sofas if needed or
wash covers as required
Wipe and water plants, dust
and deweb
Declutter and wipe fire
surround
Level Three
Check house for draughts and
make a plan to plug them before it gets REALLY wintery cold!
Hang pictures/mirrors etc
that you have had for AAAAGES and not got round to doing yet!
Empty and clear out a
cupboard or drawer..
Extras
- HHI or HHC doing some task you ALWAYS put off
- Binbag dance
- Wipe the skirtings and window frames
- Empty and wash out bins and fill coal/kindling baskets as required
- HHI
Tuesday ~ Kitchen and Dining area
Level One
Sweep and mop the floor
Clear and wipe worksurfaces
Shine the sink!
Level Two
Wipe fronts of appliances and
units
Get out your toothbrush and
scrub the grout and taps!
Wipe table and replace cloth if
needed
Level Three
Clear and wipe window sills
Clean the oven and hob..
Scrub the fridge
Extras
- Sort the childrens undies.. what needs replacing/flinging/hitting with a stick?
- Wipe skirtings
- Wash windows
- Thoroughly clean out the jars and spices and cereal shelves
Wednesday ~ Surprise Day Off
As a lovely surprise..You can all have an unexpected day off today... Do whatever room/level you wish to do today. !
Normal service resumes tomorrow
Thursday ~ Master bedroom and landing
Level One
Declutter the floor
Strip wash and replace the bedding.. do not wait until you want to get in it!!
Level Two
Vacuum floors
Dust and deweb
Empty and clean out bins
31 fling boogie!
Level Three
Clear the floordrobe.
Sort through your cupboard and get rid of those items of clothing you no longer wear or need or are worn out.. memories are in your heart not in things you no longer use!!
Declutter some of the stuff you have stashed under the bed, in the bottom of the wardrobe
Extras
- Wash windows
- Wash curtains or other soft furnishings that need it
- Straighten your shoe and bag collection.. can any be rehomed?
- Sort through a box of general junk that is lurking
Friday ~
Bathroom, loo and study!
Level One
Declutter
floors
scrubify
the tiles
Level Two
Clean the
bath, loo, shower etc...
Defrag comp
while you vacuum/mop
Wipe chairs
keyboards, mouses monitors etc..
Level Three
Wash shower
curtains/bathmats etc
Clean the
radiators and paintwork
Shine the
taps and descale the shower head!
Extras
- 15 minutes filing
- HHI
- Delete 100 useless junk emails!
- Dust deweb and wash some windows!
Declutter Challenge 2025
DH declutter challenge award 🏅⭐️
Comments
-
Morning all
Thank you so much for the lists.I couldn’t see the spoiler on my phone, I’ll check on laptop next xx
Terrible night sleep and generally feel awful. My body needs a detox I know it does - no bread, no sugar, no caffeine, no wine. I haven’t been paying any real attention at all to what I’ve been consuming and it shows - I’m pushing 14 stone and so unfit. So I am sat here with my lemon hot water and making a plan of action (in my head). I lost 3 stone on Slinky a few years ago by making healthier choices, it is not hard, I just need to do it…
Animals fed and DD is leaving shortly. WFH all day and will need to nip to the chemist after work. Take care all xx10 -
Thread here8
-
Good morning all xx
Hopefully the confusion will soon sort itself out and we'll all be on the same page again.
I'm up, made my bed, and I'm supping my first brew. P & S aren't calling this morning as S is full of cold. I did my Mr Al shop yesterday. So I have a day at home alone....to prepare for work tomorrow and the new phone system. Another one! What fun 🙄
I have too many plans of action in my head. I need to put pen to paper and separate the different strands currently meandering purposelessly within my brain. I'm with you on slinky asb. Then there's Christmas to prepare for. All the winter birthdays. Decluttering which has ground to a halt. And it would be good to totally annihilate CHAOS once and for all - which requires regular flying. It's all there in my brain just waiting to be actioned. Under achiever that's me. The only constant in my life. Under achievement. Not exactly a claim to fame 🙄
Plan of Action today - blimey I'm overwhelmed just by the words! One spoonful at a time - iona whispering in my ear 'how do you eat an elephant?' ❤
Check weather forecast
? Wash towels & tea towels
Get dressed
Feed the birds
Put out the rubbish and recycling
WUDUPA
Clear the airer - FUPA
That'll be the dailies / basics done.
Have a good week my lovelies 💗
Rxx
IT ONLY TAKES SMALL DAILY ACTIONSFOR MAGIC TO HAPPENRosemary Ikpeme8 -
TY for Fred.. I have linked this one over in the old one to bring home the stragglers.
now we have moved house I will remove the spoiler if it helps.. weird it wouldn't work.. it might be one to pass to the ivory tower and see if it is a fixable issue.
Todays rubbish..
OH is working 9-5.. I hate that he is in the way wen I am trying to do dinner but I do like having him about in the evening.. I would quite like him (and everyone else in the hosue) to have a nice boring 9-5 job so I get some time to do stuff. Usually he starts work at 12 and then C&C surface and faff about making messin the kitchen then they disappear and Boog or Moomin make more mess.. and everyone leaves it to me.
I think C&C were 'tidying' in the front room on Saturday and it is 10 times messier than it was before I went out.
I need to sort the front room.. steal OH's phone for amazon payments..
OH lost DD1's bank card yesterday and someone has had a fun time with that.. what the heck he was doing taking it out is anybodys guess.. if did have it by accident which he shouldn't have done but why would you take someone elses card out?? I am really annoyed and disgusted with him.. no excuse he may as well just steal her money himself!!
LB moment 10/06 Debt Free date 6/6/14Hope to be debt free until the day I dieMortgage-free Wannabee (05/08/30)6/6/14 £72,454.65 (5.65% int.)08/12/2023 £33602.00 (4.81% int.)9 -
Your spoiler made me giggle! I first learnt from Are You There God It's Me Margaret and then asked my mum. I have no daughters so will miss all that, though I've never shielded DS because one day he might be a husband and father, and I don't want him being really weird about it like some guys are. How many children do you have? The problem with being late on the scene is that you don't know everyone's back stories like longer residents doMarried 40y.o. mum of an autistic 11y.o. Carer/SAHM.
OS '24 Fashion On The Ration: 0(34 preloved)/67 coupons used - OS '24 Declutter Challenge: 633/500 items gone 🏅 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 - Now aiming for 750!
Feb GC: (1st-29th inc) £161.45/£495
((OS 2023 Decluttering: 740 items 🏅 🏅 🏅 🌟 . OS 2023 Fashion on the ration: 14/15 used))8 -
roundtuit said:Check weather forecast ✅
? Wash towels & tea towels ✅
Get dressed ✅
Feed the birds ✅
Put out the rubbish and recycling ✅
WUDUPA ✅
Clear the airer - FUPA ✅
WM is in the last throes of the cycle. I've wiped the washing line - so I'll get the towels and tea towels pegged out.
Then I'll make myself a coffee and put pen to paper to form an Action Plan or two, or six, or nine.
RxxIT ONLY TAKES SMALL DAILY ACTIONSFOR MAGIC TO HAPPENRosemary Ikpeme7 -
Thanks for the new thread, Natty. I hope your unpacking is going well - steadily, even if slowly x
Thank you pigpen for pointing us stragglers in the right direction x
[Whispers to round] Well done for remembering!
So far today I have
- woken up far too early, so I am very muzzy headed
- S&S'd kitchen and bathroom
- opened DH's curtains so that he wouldn't lie abed in the half-dark
- PUPA in LR
- FUPA clean washing
- finished shifting money around
- cleared a bit more gubbins off my desk - then the postman came and brought more
- taken an Oc'do delivery of cans and jars
- written my shopping list for MrAl and other local shops
- done QHI
I still need to go to Action Heart, do shopping, post cards and give Rosie a walk.
See you later xxx6 -
Good morning all, what happened to September? Sorry I've been missing again, but September was just chaotic and expensive! Two children, one S-i-L, and three grandchildren had birthdays! My sister, not the Australian one, came for a few days, so we managed to declutter a couple of bottles of wine and a large bag of jelly babies. (That counts as flying doesn't it?) Younger son, and nephew have been for a weekend. I have planted loads of cauliflower plants and broad beans seeds, weeded a lot, watered a lot. Picked a tub of raspberries every day, and got stung/stabbed every time. Why do the raspberries think nettles and thistles make good bed fellows? Picked up, sorted and put away the world's largest collection of Playmobil, second in size only to the collection of lego. All the hay was brought in, just in time, before the rain. And dadtoomany and I have been chopping and sorting the remaining pieces of the 300 year old beach that fell in the storms last winter. So far around eight tonne bags full, still more to go. Then the fence needs fixing and the gate replacing. Flying, very little. Must do better in October, although I did rehouse a load of biscuit cutters, not been used since we moved here, ten years ago!
I've just read last week's thread. Happy belated birthday to those I've missed, I think Valli was one, can't remember who else. Thank you for missing me ASB. Hugs to all those who need them. Welcome on-board to all the newbies.
Piggers, you made me laugh so much, I can't get the image of seagulls from my mind now! My younger sister, was ten years old! It was left to me to explain everything to her, my mother was too embarrassed. And at ten, she'd not had "the talk" at school yet.
So, flying. Today, now I've picked the raspberries and done some watering, I plan to:-
Hoover in the LR.
Hoover the stairs.
Sort the two baskets of washing and put them away, only been sat on the floor for a week. Can't rush these things.
Unload/reload DW again.
Finish sewing up baby jumper for new DGD, due in January.
Clear the mountain of paper of the desk, put it for fire lighting.
That's enough for now I think.
Right off to make a start, while still laughing about seagulls! Hugs to all, mumtoomanyxxx
PS. How have your raspberries done ASB? And if anyone else would like some autumn fruiting raspberry canes, just let me know. We have a LOT!!!
Frugal Living Challenge 2025.
Grocery challenge, £1300 food plus £200 cleaning materials etc, for the year.7 -
Towels and tea towels are pegged out. Rain isn't forecast until 4 pm, so hopefully they'll dry. Micro breeze should help.
Action Plans? Well, I've supped my coffee, noted on the calendar the Annual Leave that I've booked in January and March 2024 and next week's flu jab date, written my Christmas card list, set up a page ready for Flylady Card Swap, started a Mr Al shopping list, started a Miscellaneous shopping list, started a Christmas shopping list (calculated number of postage stamps required). Made a note to obtain DS's NI number so that I can complete the form to nominate him as the beneficiary of my work pension if I drop dead. In fact I've done lots of outstanding admin but no action plans 🤔 Productive procrastination perhaps?
Lunch next
Rxx
IT ONLY TAKES SMALL DAILY ACTIONSFOR MAGIC TO HAPPENRosemary Ikpeme6 -
Apart from Flylady Christmas cards and those I/we can deliver I think I may be pretty much done with most Christmas cards. I've just had a flick through the few we received from further afield last year and there are very few that mean much to me, but there are some so I will send a few. Those people further afield that we never see who just top and tail whatever's printed in them without writing anything else at all - defo off the list. That counts as decluttering doesn't it? It's certainly MSE with the price of postage what it is these days. (Flylady cards are different - all the newsy stuff is already on the thread!)The communal garden gardener has been and pruned the cherry tree. His wife had a baby a very few months ago and Tom does all the cooking, so I've also managed to declutter most of the huge cabbage we had in the Lid* Too Good to Waste box as coleslaw to him, plus something else I know he likes protein-wise from the freezer so that's at least half of his supper sorted and a cabbage that I was struggling to think of things to do to dealt with rather neatly. Apparently he loves the stuff, can't get enough of it, puts it in everything. Hope he likes homemade stuff.Must must must do those thank you notes, cards and letters if not all today, at least some. Really bothering me I've been back two weeks and have only written and delivered one so far to the physio who gave me some really wonderful effective advice and treatment for the broken ankle.Better is good enough.7
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